About This Virtual Travel Relaxation Video

Once when I was a child, I floated in the Great Salt Lake. My buoyancy was a little surprising since, whenever I tried to float during swimming lessons, my legs normally sank. That didn’t happen this time. Hard as I tried, I couldn’t get my legs to sink.

The salinity of the Great Salt Lake varies, depending on the water level. However, it ranges from about 5 percent to up to 27 percent, the point at which water can’t hold more salt.

I returned to the Great Salt Lake on a family trip during the summer heat. The salt wasn’t only in the water, but also in the air, creating an uncomfortable mugginess. That wasn’t the only cause for discomfort, I soon discovered as brine flies swarmed over me,

To get away from them, I waded right out into the water not far from where a flock of seagulls bobbed on the water. I could see right down into the clear water to the rocks cutting into my feet. The view was worth the pain, though.

A sail stood out against the blue of the lake as the wind ruffled the surface and waves lapped a sandy shore. I couldn’t help but be startled by the resemblance to an ocean shore. It’s not hard to accept that the Great Salt Lake is a remnant of an ocean that once covered the interior of the continent.

Later, I would drive through the Bonneville Salt Flats, where a sea of salt stretches across a completely flat landscape once covered by water. The salt deposited when the waters receded glistens under a wide-open sky. The sheer scope of it boggles the mind, even though harvesting has depleted much of this natural wonder.

The wind was dangerous for drivers that day, not an uncommon occurrence in a place where no trees exist to block it. When I left the car at a rest stop, it pushed at me in a way I haven’t experienced since childhood.

In more than one way, this visit to the Great Salt Lake and the Bonneville Salt Flats reminded me of some things that as an adult I’d nearly forgotten. It allowed me to relive the joy of rolling up my pant legs and swishing through cool water on a hot day, of gazing at the horizon and wondering what lay over the mountains, of flailing my arms in the wind.

It was worth every bit of the very long drive it took to reach the hotel that night. After you watch the video, you’re welcome to read Start of a Very Long Day, a travel journal I wrote about the experience at time, at my Literary Wayfarer Travel site.

Tweetables

• Virtual travel video to the Great Salt Lake and Bonneville Salt Flats. Click to Tweet.
• Relaxation video has beautiful pictures of the Great Salt Lake set to music. Click to Tweet.
• Need a quick mental vacation? Viirtual travel video takes you to the Great Salt Lake. Click to Tweet.